I was so eager to start cloth diapering my son a year and a ago. I purchased my pocket diapers and dove right in with washing, drying, and stuffing the cloth diapers. I loved it because it was saving me so much money. I quickly found a problem. I repeatedly found used, washed, and falling apart disposable wipes entangled with my washed diapers. Yes, I switched to cloth diapers, but the concept of cloth wipes somehow did not enter my thought life. I eagerly stopped using disposable diapers, but kept using disposable wipes.

Potty Training?  Not yet?  Well now you have something to look forward to.  Many of your favorite cloth diaper manufacturers, companies who previously only made cloth diapers, have heard your cries and are releasing their own cloth training pants!  We know you're just going to love these new products.  Now you don't have to be so sad about your little one potty training because they'll have cute cloth trainers that they can move right into.

I just watched the most amazing documentary today while my daughter took a nap. It’s called Babies and without narration, it follows four babies from four different countries - Nambia, Mongolia, Japan, and the USA—for the first year of their lives. I found it adorable, eye-opening, and inspiring to see how four babies who are raised in four very different cultures with very different traditions, still develop so similarly. What was most wonderful to me, though, was watching the way their mothers interacted with them and to see how the un-bridled love a mother has for her child can be expressed in such varied and diverse ways!

Diapering couldn't get any greener than using cloth diapers when you factor in that cloth can be bought and re-sold, gently used, further reducing the cost and often recouping most of your investment.  However, there are some really important things to consider when you buy or sell used cloth diapers, specifically when you're on the receiving end of the deal.

There is an African song/saying that says, “It takes a whole village to raise a child.”  I don’t think that phrase applies only to Africa, it seems to take on its own meaning here in the States too.  I feel that when it comes to getting all the things that we need for our babies,  the communities we live in really chip in.  I’ve heard things like, “Don’t buy baby clothes, I have a ton that my little one has outgrown.” Or “Wait, before you buy a crib and come check mine out first.  We’re not going to have any more children so we don’t need it.

The things that we don’t get as hand-me-downs often come in the form of shower gifts.  The idea is that the expectant couple need not buy a thing thanks to their family, church, and friends helping out.  What’s best is not the gifts you get, but the experience that comes with them.  “Becca, I got you this placemat because it’s wonderful for going to restaurants.  Sticks right to the table, can’t be thrown around the room and it wipes off!”  I would have never thought of that.  Or, “You won’t need them yet, but my daughter loved these sippy cups.  Maybe you’ll find them useful when your daughter is a toddler.”   Whether things are given to us to keep, or passed back and forth between families, it’s really nice to have that financial support when it comes to getting the things our children need.  So, I thought, “Why not do this with cloth diapers?”  Why not practice the hand-me-down and pass around tactics we use with other baby items

...and a few money saving idea to get you started. This is my first venture into cloth diapering and so far it has been a joy!  I started my cloth diaper stash with a few hand me down pocket diapers and have added a few Flips, cotton prefolds and homemade fleece liners.